Interview: Gulshaan

Posted on
January 17, 2018

Last summer I had the opportunity to meet Imaan, Gulshaan's brand designer in Paris. Imaan is a charming and inspiring woman that works hard to create timeless designs while using sustainable and eco-friendly materials. Arriving at her office (in a beautiful and calm area in the center of the capital), we talked about all kinds of subjects from fashion to traveling to future projects. I was able to learn about her brand's identity and philosophy. I have to tell you, I was very captivated by her ideas and her determination to make a change in this world. Our conversation continued around burgers atL'échappée belle,in the 11th arrondissement. All this to say that I learned that Gulshaanis a brand with a rich identity and an important vision of a sustainable future. Its modestdesignsgo from simple and cool to ethical and chic. I love how she incorporates different patterns with differents materials to create multiple styles for all women of all ages.

In this exclusive article, I asked Imaan to answer a few questions so you can get to know more about her and the brand.

Gulshaan means "garden of roses" in many Asian language, from turkish to the urdu, persian and pashto. It is a word that travels a lot, while also having a poetic dimension. It can be found in various collections of big poets (particularly of persian and indian decent). This garden of roses is a little metaphor, representing the blooming and the feminine empowerment that represents perfectly our vision. Indeed, our collections are hand-produced in a workshop that promotes the insertion of widows and divorced women in Pakistan.

Since the end of 2017, we have also started working, in Paris, on a project around the social and professional integration of women refugees, by using textile related skills. Many people arrive here with extraordinary skills, which deserve to be valued and passed on. On the contrary, the western fashion world lost this craft (hand-made) and it is looking for it again today. This is why it was necessary to bring all the people together to break the cleavages. We are starting our first training at the end of the month, with a dozen women from different parts of the world.

The word that best represents the brand, whether it is for its ethical approach or for its designs, is ‘authenticity’. It goes along the logical continuation of the modest dimension and our method of production at a human scale.

We are arriving at a critical stage of the world, as much as on the human plan as on the ecological plan. We have been drowned by mass consumption and the search for profit. Industrialization made us loose a lot of our traditional skills. However, we have this deep nature anchored within us that tells us that all of this is not natural and we are running to disaster. Many are those who wonder about new models, new systems, on ways to change all of this on a daily basis.

The Gulshaan woman is sensitive to these reflections, even if there are a lot of things yet to be accomplished. She's like a modern hero who juggles between several hats; she is a feminist, a soul traveler, and she is registered in history as well as reality. She knows no boundaries or limits, owning multiple identities and multiple cultures towards which she doesn't feel the need to choose. She is whole, authentic. She is positive, has strong values and is sensitive to a more sustainable and responsible fashion.

When we launched the brand in 2015, the purpose was to offer high quality modest ready-to-wear clothing made with noble and natural materials that one can wear on a daily basis (to work, school or just to hang out with family). We found that there was a big lack at this level; it was a need I had personally as a woman. I have never worn a polyester or acrylic piece, as much because of my ecological convictions as because I find these materials very uncomfortable. Until today, I have difficulty, as consumer, to find modest clothes made with non-synthetic materials. We thus work hard and carefully on the materials and the cuts so that they correspond to the needs of the woman of today.

The brand Gulshaan is really anchored in the universe of travels and the silk road that influences the collections, even if it is more a state of mind than a characteristic of the designs. I like mixing the plain and the printed by using, for example, the traditional embroidery or by adding an ethnic touch on Parisian and bohemian designs. It is moreover very Parisiani. Concerning inspirations, I love enormously Isabel Marant, Vanessa Bruno and Chloé, as well as Etro. I am also very fascinated by the traditional clothes from different parts of the world. They have a lot to teach us.

We also presented our first collection at the closing of the Paris Fashion Week this year. It was a new step after having worked for a long time on ready-to-wear clothing.

I am rather positive, because more and more people pay attention on the way they consume, learn how and what to look for when choosing labels, and to ask questions about the production line. People are now asking brands for more transparency. However a deep change within society takes time, and this time, we do not have it any more. The textile industry is the second most polluting to the world, and millions of people are being exploited by this industry. We needed dramas like the one of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh in 2013 for the people to wake up. However, we cannot allow for any more tragedies to happen and act as if we are not responsible by our ways of consumption. The danger is that, by becoming a trend, "responsible fashion" urges the large brands to adopt an ethical approach of facade, while they continue to work on a system of profit and exploitation of the workers and resources. It is thus to us all, as consumers, to question everything, and to us the creators to be as transparent as possible in our way of producing.

I also want to use this interview to issue a call to all fashion bloggers and influencers: take advantage of your influence to change the mentalities, question your audience about its practices, bring your touch to this necessary change. We have no choice: fashion kills today.

We forgot the real value of a garment today; there is a whole educational work to be redone: clothes are not disposable, several people worked on each piece and we should know that a 2 euros t-shirt bought at Primark is not made in a responsible way with a fair salary and sustainable materials. Lets just be a little realistic and curious about bringing quality over quantity: let us take back the sense where there isn't anymore.

We live in Paris,
a city with a particular social context that leaves little room to the
expression of minorities and self-fulfillment of the identities. In spite of a
very multicultural society, it is difficult to get out of the boxes to which we
are assigned and to which a standard and unique model of integration was
established. Many of us live discriminations on a daily basis and the deep
injustice of not being considered French, despite being born here. That favors
the withdrawal and the fatalism in regards to our professional evolution and
integration. This is the way I explain the lack of high quality modest
brands in France, and those who exist emerged only recently, much later than in
the other western countries for example. Participating at the closing of the
Paris Fashion Week was a big step to recognition, but Gulshaan was the only
French modest brand.

My vision of
modest fashion is very feminist: for me, it is a way to bring back the right to
the woman to dress as she wishes, with clothes that are the continuation of her
identity, and to regain control of her body as something private which she has
completely, without being at the mercy of the diktats of the western fashion world.

I work on the question of identity a lot (it is
essential in France). We shall be able to live together. I think that things
are moving and I am a member of this change. I realized it by force of
circumstance, and from now on, I take this commitment as a mission, to work for
a more inclusive society. I believe in using the fashion industry to make a
change in these representations. In all the stages of the construction of
a society, there is a generation negatively impacted: it is to us, now, to open the right doors for those who will
follow, there is no other option.